“Yep. I came first, then I have a brother two years younger than me, and a sister two years younger still,” said the former 2x IWGP Intercontinental Champion, 8x IWGP Heavyweight Champion, and current 3x IWGP Tag Team Champion Hiroshi Tanahashi in response to a New Japan Pro Wrestling (NJPW) question about him being the oldest of three children.
Tanahashi recently sat down with the NJPW website to talk about his life. “Just your everyday office worker. I think we had the stereotypical Japanese family unit. I lived with my grandparents, my parents, and then us three kids in the house,” Tanahashi said about his family life growing up.
Tanahashi wasn’t shy to open up about his time in junior high school when he wasn’t quite as mannerly as he is now. “Yeah, I was terrible. I went drinking with some of my old friends from junior high recently, and they reminded me that I was giving the class unofficial sex ed classes,” evidently Tanahashi found his way into his dad’s Playboy collection as a kid, making him an expert on matters of intimacy.
“Oh, man, now we’re getting personal! I’d have to say it was first year of junior high. I’d really kind of picked on girls all through elementary, but then I fell in love,” Tanahashi opened up in the second part of the interview when asked about his first love. ” ‘K’-san? I told her. Three times,” he continued owing up to his forwardness.
“Once for each year of junior high. And she turned me down each time. Her friend would arrange for us to meet, and I just figured each time, no matter how nervous I was, I should go for it,” admitting that even Hiroshi Tanahashi had to overcome hurdles of unrequited love as a kid. ” I was pretty outgoing, and a bit of a playboy. In between hitting on ‘K’-san once a year, I had two other girlfriends,” he continued, obviously not suffering too much from the rejection of his first love.
“She was the cutest girl in the school! But the other kids were teasing about it, so I broke up with her. Man, she was cute though! Every now and then I still kick myself about that,” Tanahashi said openly regarding one of his girlfriends from his younger days. ” I think so. I put that image out there. That’s probably why K-san turned me down, really. She wasn’t the only one I professed my love for either. I was putting in the work, I think,” he admitted when asked if his multiple girlfriends ended up giving him a playboy reputation.
In the upcoming third part of the sitdown interview, Tanahashi will talk about his introduction into professional wrestling and likely what inspired him to try out for the NJPW Noge Dojo.
